Stereophonics team up with
Jim Abbiss for 2009’s
Keep Calm and Carry On, hoping the producer of
Arctic Monkeys,
Kasabian, and
the Music can freshen them up a little bit.
Abbiss does strip away the gloss of Pull the Pin, guiding
Stereophonics toward something a little more straightforward, where their
Oasis obsessions are upgraded to a declawed
Monkeys, the
U2 swapped for
Coldplay. The relatively stripped-down setting winds up letting the rockers of the album’s first half latch in, particularly the rather propulsive “Trouble,” the nimble “She’s Alright,” and rolling “I Got Your Number,” and does keep the succession of anthems and ballads on the second half from seeming too languid.